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Prog Rock

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Weeeell: They played almost 3 hours. Steve Howe was on fire, Anderson sounded great and Wakeman was -- as I said -- OWNING. Squire was good for the first half of the set then played amazingly during the second and White, as always, did his job. The most amazing thing was at the very end of "And You And I" , during Howe's guitar line that leads into Anderson's closing verse, the entire place got up and gave Howe (+ the band) a 5 minute standing ovation. Howe seemed pissed he wasn't allowed to finish the song, though, which I thought was strange. The rest of the band seemed totally awed and teary eyed. It was incredible.
Then they did an "unplugged" set that included an acoustic version of "Owner Of A Lonely Heart'. They ended the evening with two encores: "Soon" and then -- past the MSG curfew of 11:00 and into hefty NY Union Workers' Overtime territory (I heard something like $25,000 an hour?!?) - they did "Starship Trooper".
Some of the songs I remember losing it over they sounded so luvverly:

South Side Of the Sky
Going For The One
Ritual (!!)
OOALH
Long Distance Runaround
Soon

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

Did they play Heart of the Sunrise!?

Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:01 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think they did. No, I would've remembered since it's one of my faves.

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Wow, that sounds awesome. I guess they've been opening with "Going For the One", eh? I really should have went to the show here. One the only favorite bands of my youth that I still haven't seen.

Broheems (diamond), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, they opened with GFTO. Oh - and the Wakeman/Howe tradeoffs at the end of SSOTS were fire. I recommend catching these guys on this tour if you enjoy them. They're mainly staying away from the bulk of merde they put out in the early-mid '90s and sticking to lots of seldom-played classics. Including 1st and 2nd album stuff. Still no Drama material, though.

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:08 (twenty-two years ago)

Starship Trooper encore! Favorite song ever.

57 7th (calstars), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh -- and Wakeman/Anderson did a lovely version of "The Meeting" from the otherwise terrible Anderson/Bruford/Wzzzzzzz... album

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:17 (twenty-two years ago)

I kind of regret missing the show.

Vitalski: It's an obvious answer but do you have Yes' Fragile? The second side is a goldmine. Side 2 opens with the first drum and bass track evah! Also check out the intro to "Heart of the Sunrise" and "The Fish" and the basslines to "Long Distance Runaround" and "Roundabout". Neil Peart is another obvious choice.

I find Inner Mounting Flame more or less unlistenable once I got past how virtuosic it is.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Ha, I have never gotten past it. Or more to the point, that's not why I like it...it just leaves all other fusion and prog the dust, hundreds of miles behind, in terms of screaming intensity.

Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's the only record with which I've experienced the cliche that prog/fusion is technically dazzling but feels totally cold or dry on an emotional level. Where I actually do find the wailing guitar solos to sound cheesy and showy. I'm not totally sure why. It bugs me since I like McLaughlin with Miles.

sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:31 (twenty-two years ago)

(Admittedly, I seem to generally prefer current fusion to 70 stuff, with exceptions.)

sundar subramanian (sundar), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

That's really interesting, since for me it's one of the only ones that manages to transcend all the tightly scripted runs and odd-times to sound like five guys playing their asses off, with fire to spare.

Return to Forever (w/diMeola), for ex., sounds more like emotionless showmanship to me. Fun in some ways, in no way deep like Mahavishnu.

Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 18:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Weeeell: They played almost 3 hours. Steve Howe was on fire, Anderson sounded great and Wakeman was -- as I said -- OWNING. Squire was good for the first half of the set then played amazingly during the second and White, as always, did his job. The most amazing thing was at the very end of "And You And I" , during Howe's guitar line that leads into Anderson's closing verse, the entire place got up and gave Howe (+ the band) a 5 minute standing ovation. Howe seemed pissed he wasn't allowed to finish the song, though, which I thought was strange. The rest of the band seemed totally awed and teary eyed. It was incredible.

I saw them in Lowell at the Paul Tsongas Arena last weekend (the last gig of this leg of their tour; I think the one right after MSG), which they were videotaping I believe for a PBS special and later a DVD release. They played The Beatles' "Every Little Thing" (an early cover of theirs, but very much revamped) as an encore instead of "Soon", plus "Starship Trooper" as the final closer. Great versions of "And You and I", "Ritual", "Turn of the Century"...

Minuses: They did a shuffle-blues acoustic version of "Roundabout" (like Clapton did for "Layla" on his Unplugged)--sounds too cheezy to me. Dean's inflatable set looked very (ahem) Stonehenge like.

That aside, I continue to be amazed at what a great show these guys still put on, since they're all like 55-60 years old. Plus, the a/c that night was non-existent, so it was like 85-90 degrees on stage the entire time for them.

Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 21:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Back to the original question, how about trying Herbie Hancock's Sextant or Can's Ege Bamyasi?

Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 18 May 2004 21:10 (twenty-two years ago)

i want more music like magma too

chaki_burger (chaki), Friday, 21 May 2004 00:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I just listened to a few Gentle Giant songs that I thought might be good for this: "Knots" (Octopus) has some really crazy shit on it that might be good for sampling; "Nothing At All"'s (s/t) opening with a funky beat behind it would be nice; "Why Not?" (s/t) has a nice sample-able drum and bass bit (in the literal sense not drum 'n' bass) before the outro solo; "Alucard" (s/t) is pretty groovy and crazy; "Experience" (In A Glass House) has some nice bits; "Design" (Interview) is really cool an has a really cool drum break at about 4:27. I don't know what part of "Peel the Paint" has that one really cool bit before the guitar and sax part that leads into the chorus at about 2:04. You probably don't care about this anymore but whatever.

Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 22 May 2004 19:01 (twenty-two years ago)

remove the bit "I don't know what part of" before "Peel the Paint" for fuck's sake.

Bryan (Bryan), Saturday, 22 May 2004 19:05 (twenty-two years ago)

and how could anyone forget Knots, the Gentle Giant remix album with Kid606, Blectum & Electric Company compiled by Phthalocyanine.

it actually exists. it's actually pretty good.

(Jon L), Monday, 24 May 2004 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

Herbie Hancock's "Crossings", "Mwandishi" and "Sextant" will also satisfy some funky fusion music needs.

earlnash, Monday, 24 May 2004 17:12 (twenty-two years ago)

Dleone's suggestions in this thread are OTM i just heard AREA wow!

chaki_burger (chaki), Monday, 24 May 2004 21:39 (twenty-two years ago)

Chaki, see also:

Area/Demetrio Stratos: C or D

Joe (Joe), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 01:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Any and every King Crimson rec with Bill Bruford is a good choice: Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Starless And Bible Black, Red and their three '80s LPs wich the monochromatic red/blue/yellow covers.

Rustic Hinge's [recorded 1970, not released until '88, former Arthur Brown sidemen, almost certainly the first Trout Mask Replica-disciples] is excellent but you'll probably never find it.

Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 06:13 (twenty-two years ago)

wich = with, of course. Bonehead.

Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Area are more than ok. Try also Magma's "Udu Vudu" - its their simpler and funkier album and couple of tracks have fantastic drums/bass sequences.

Marco Damiani (Marco D.), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 06:31 (twenty-two years ago)

So much "prog" is that mellow, slow stuff...

Prog that rocks...

Alan Parsons Project "Stereotomy" (leans towards pop)
Alan Parsons "Try Anything Once" (absolute rock masterpiece)

jigue (jigue), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 11:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I've been listening to "Todd Rundgren's Utopia" quite a bit, and "The Ikon" from that surely has lots & lots of break sample fodder in it, if one were so inclined.

Pashmina (Pashmina), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 11:41 (twenty-two years ago)

RElayer-Yes. just dug this out recently. damn they let it go on that album. breaks-a-plenty.

mark e (mark e), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 12:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Search 310's "bootleg" ep, Prague Rock for reconstructions of the funkier breaks from the mainstream progrock canon. Includes Genesis' "Riding The Scree", Pink Floyd's "Echoes" and Yes' "Heart of the Sunrise." There's also a hilarious loop from an Ian Anderson interview and the King Crimson tribute is named "Pipeless and Smoking Crack."

doug watson (solid air), Tuesday, 25 May 2004 16:09 (twenty-two years ago)

four years pass...

Anyone watching the prog rock BBC archive footage, followed by documentary this evening?

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 20:54 (seventeen years ago)

answer to original poster's question -- Triode On n'a pas fini d'avoir tout vu (with proto-disco flutes!). it played between almost every outside set at terrastock in june and had people a little wiggly

kamerad, Friday, 2 January 2009 20:56 (seventeen years ago)

Stuck this on in the background, we're gonna probably play Scrabble

REMOVE THEIR EARS (country matters), Friday, 2 January 2009 21:01 (seventeen years ago)

Nice barnet, Moody Blues frontman.

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:06 (seventeen years ago)

Hardcore flute action, yes it's the Tull!

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:10 (seventeen years ago)

Wishbone Ash sound like Polvo!

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:14 (seventeen years ago)

But look like Creme Brulee.

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:15 (seventeen years ago)

Hang on, I didn't think any of this kicked off till 10pm? For fuck's sake.

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Friday, 2 January 2009 21:19 (seventeen years ago)

An hour of archive footage with what seem to be Steve Wright penned glib captions, followed by the docu, in which Rick Wakeman will no doubt be aloowed to drone on.

Pretty entertaining so far though!

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:21 (seventeen years ago)

Ah, right. Bugger, missing the archive footage, then (and still up to eyes with work and reluctanct to give up just yet. Tits).

Special topics: Disco, The Common Market (grimly fiendish), Friday, 2 January 2009 21:25 (seventeen years ago)

:-( sorry! First capes sighted too...

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:27 (seventeen years ago)

have any of these put in in an appearance on the archive footing of the show

John Peel / Alan Freeman / Tommy Vance

djmartian, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:29 (seventeen years ago)

...and whispering Bob Harris

djmartian, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:30 (seventeen years ago)

Not yet, but Jimmy Saville did one of the intros.

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:30 (seventeen years ago)

Hmmm Emerson Lake & Palmer suck the big one, sadly.

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:34 (seventeen years ago)

Soft Machine a lot better!

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:41 (seventeen years ago)

lol Bob Harris!

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:43 (seventeen years ago)

does Bob Harris look like a long haired hippy?

djmartian, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:47 (seventeen years ago)

love Caravan.

get that pion down you son (Frogman Henry), Friday, 2 January 2009 21:49 (seventeen years ago)

i bet Comus are too obscure for this program

any sign of the van der graaf generator yet?

djmartian, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:51 (seventeen years ago)

Harris looking well groomed. Genesis now, I think.

Neil S, Friday, 2 January 2009 21:53 (seventeen years ago)

radiohead

get that pion down you son (Frogman Henry), Friday, 2 January 2009 21:56 (seventeen years ago)

Ha! I watched the whole thing and was not sorry, though I'll never watch it again. In addition to "Refugees" the Genesis "Entangled" was also good, and the ELP "Great Gates Of Kiev" was fine. And I didn't mind "And You And I". Anyone coming to this has to alter their expectations, I say as a first generation progger.

nickn, Sunday, 26 July 2026 03:22 (one month ago)

wonder why they kept showing to this one specific flute player, was she someone special or something?? it felt like one of those Vic Berger edits.

frogbs, Sunday, 26 July 2026 04:31 (one month ago)

Yeah, she was on a LOT. We kinda liked her.

At the dread words "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends", we paused, realised we weren't even halfway through, thought "too bloody right it never ends", and called it a night.

mike t-diva, Sunday, 26 July 2026 19:06 (one month ago)

I don't know who was doing the Annie Haslam role (admittedly I thought it *was* her at first but then realized Annie has got to be in her mid-70s by now) but she couldn't really hit those high notes

from the short clips i've seen on social media, i think that's Jane Weaver

Angine de Postecogloutrine (NickB), Sunday, 26 July 2026 22:01 (one month ago)

Speaking of ELP--haven't brought myself to listen to this yet, but backstory is kind of appealing---Poland and Amsterdam maaaan:

GATES OF KIEV: Dutch Progressive Rock Trio To Release Eponymous Debut LP On The Laser’s Edge October 2nd; “Hamlet Burns” Single And Preorders Posted

Leading prog rock label The Laser’s Edge welcomes Dutch trio GATES OF KIEV for the release of their eponymous debut LP, today unveiling its cover art, track listing, preorders, and lead preview with the song “Hamlet Burns.”

GATES OF KIEV is a progressive rock band founded in the Netherlands by childhood friends, organist Tomas Mesman and drummer Hessel Braat. The band’s origins trace back to their teenage years, when a shared passion for classic and vintage music brought them together. What began as informal late night hard rock sessions in a small garage gradually evolved into the musical foundation that defines the band today. While performing on the Amsterdam live music circuit, the duo met Eszl De Vois, an established bass player in the underground psychedelic scene whose passion for unconventional jazz fit the band like a glove.

Heavily inspired by Emerson, Lake & Palmer, the band adopted the name GATES OF KIEV, taken from the iconic piece featured on the EL&P live album Pictures At An Exhibition. Taking further inspiration from the modern local garage and punk scene as well as the early years of ‘70s prog bands, GATES OF KIEV’s live shows have evolved into loud, high energy, over-the-top, intense performances. The band’s songs are long and mostly instrumental, and the sparse lyrics they infuse into the music reflect both very personal struggles as societal topics, delivered in a whimsical and sometimes direct way. The dynamics and atmosphere within the instrumental parts are closely tied to the themes of the songs, trying to set a story without words.

The band’s debut album Gates Of Kiev presents forty minutes of incredibly dynamic and immediately engaging music delivered through four sprawling songs. Recorded by GATES OF KIEV, the album was mixed and mastered by White Willow’s Jacob Holm-Lupo in Norway and completed with cover art courtesy of Italian heavy psych illustrator Mont Doom.

The lead preview of the album arrives with the song “Hamlet Burns,” about which drummer Hessel Braat, “‘Hamlet Burns’ is a dramatic, ecstatic song inspired by the scenery of barren fields in Dutch Winter. The music and lyrics follow a journey of loss, deep experience and transformation. Almost as if portraying the unfolding of destiny within a human life.”


12:50 advance track "Hamlet Burns" is here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEQBrdnHkvk

also cool band pic:
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzQhVXGPhbhssJpslzDmnjXxwlbg?projector=1

dow, Monday, 27 July 2026 23:03 (one month ago)

Wait, why did I think Poland was in there too? Sorry, too much Amsterdam today.

dow, Monday, 27 July 2026 23:05 (one month ago)

I wish I cared about ELP but, Lucky Man aside, I have never warmed to them. and I've tried

I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Monday, 27 July 2026 23:13 (one month ago)

Props for using the Eloy font

mime is money (bastard) (Matt #2), Monday, 27 July 2026 23:27 (one month ago)

hah, I think I actually heard of these guys through another prog community, they posted a couple live videos which I thought sounded good. "Drunkenship of the Mice" was a pretty crazy tune. I'm glad these newer prog bands are actually starting to rock again.

frogbs, Tuesday, 28 July 2026 14:10 (one month ago)

four weeks pass...

Been listening to the Supersister compilation M.A.N. Memories Are New and I'm really glad I wanted to be completist about this band. It's mostly songs that aren't on any of the albums, "Wine Melody" was worth the price of admission and the live versions never feel like a waste because they always added new tangents (often humorous) and they have a great energy.

I need to check out the bands Stips was in after Supersister and before Nits.

― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, January 26, 2024 9:14 PM (two years ago)

I honestly think this compilation is better than their studio albums, so much beautiful stuff on it. "Workman's Song" is about a guy fantasizing about killing people with his tools and its probably made to sound like a singer from a 70s variety show. It's brilliantly done.
There's a few dutch language songs (I don't think they did this on the albums?) so I have no idea what they're laughing about on the last track, they can just barely hold it together.

Robert Adam Gilmour, Tuesday, 25 August 2026 21:29 (one week ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXssLdHhxIo

Maresn3st, Wednesday, 26 August 2026 18:04 (one week ago)

That's really good, thanks

Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 26 August 2026 18:37 (one week ago)

this is some great new prog from brazil

https://papangu.bandcamp.com/album/celestial

Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Wednesday, 26 August 2026 20:09 (one week ago)

^^ very otm, it's an awesome album. definitely restores the feeling.

mobb derp (voodoo chili), Wednesday, 26 August 2026 20:18 (one week ago)

Cover art is great too, never seen Juliana Lapa before

Robert Adam Gilmour, Wednesday, 26 August 2026 20:37 (one week ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wugUR0oszgk

Maresn3st, Monday, 31 August 2026 09:02 (two days ago)

never heard of these guys but that sounds great

frogbs, Monday, 31 August 2026 12:55 (two days ago)

I'm thinking that Germanofon bootlegged some Iceberg albums in the 90s, which is why I thought they were a German band. TIL they're from Spain.

sawdust lagoon, Monday, 31 August 2026 17:25 (two days ago)

I thought they were Italian based solely on how they sound

frogbs, Monday, 31 August 2026 17:47 (two days ago)


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